So off to the candy shop we walked. Downtown Danville is a very cute little town. I held tight to the kids' hands as we crossed the road, and went into the brightly lit, colorful shop. They have lots of fun stuff in there, lots of bulk candy, a case with fudge, and many display tables with everything from retro candy bars to funny greeting cards. Of course with Valentines Day drawing near, there were plenty of choices for your sweetheart, too.
My kids were overwhelmed by the choices, and took forever to pick something. They finally both settled on flavored powder that was dispensed into a straw - kind of like Pixy Stix. I helped them fill their straws with various flavors of powder, and we headed to the cash register. In front of us in line was a teenage boy - he was probably about thirteen. He was kind of at that awkward stage that teenagers go through. He was a little chubby and had perpetually red cheeks. He was wearing a flannel shirt and cargo shorts, with a stocking cap on his head. He was buying a red, heart-shaped tin filled with chocolates and a special red soda in a bottle. As the salesgirl rang him up, she looked at the soda and said, "Is this a gift?" The boy nodded. She said, "Is it a Valentine's Day gift for a girl?" He mumbled yes. The cashier hesitated. "Um....well, I'm not sure if this is something you should get. This bottle of soda kind of has some raunchy stuff written on the label. Did you see the label? "The boy looked confused and kind of just stared at her. The cashier tried again. "I just think the girl might be mad if you gave this to her." By this time I'm trying my hardest to get a good look at the bottle of soda, but I couldn't see it. Meanwhile, the kid held his hand out and took the bottle from the salesgirl - he looked like he had no idea what to do. Suddenly his mom came up out of nowhere and fussed at him. "What are you doing" she asked him. "If you changed your mind you need to move because you are holding up these people in line behind you!" He said, in a half-whisper, "Mom, no....she said...." And as he was trying to explain, the salesgirl piped in and said, "Oh no...he's not holding up the line. I was just making sure he knew what was on the bottle, and asking him if he really wanted to give that as a gift." The mom looked confused and said, "What? Why?" The salesgirl continued, "I mean....he probably didn't even know what it meant - well, I hope he didn't know what it meant!" By now I'm craning my neck so hard I'm about to pull a ligament, but I still can't see the bottle! The mom reached up and took the bottle of soda from her son and took a good look at it. Her eyes widened. "Oh! No. You can't get that!" She handed it to her son, "Go put that back!" She looked at me. I smiled at her, and she said, "Wow! I'm glad she noticed that. Wow. It really does take a village, huh?" I kind of chuckled and shrugged since I had no idea what the bottle said. The salesgirl put the boy's tin of chocolates to the side so she could ring me up while he picked out a different bottle of soda. Since he took the red soda with him, I never did see what it said!
Lucky for me, the candy shop happens to be right by where my kids go to karate, so tonight, just before going to karate, I popped back into the candy shop to hunt down that mysterious bottle of red soda. I found it on a display by the front door.....
Um.....yeah. If I had a thirteen year old daughter and she came home from school with this bottle of soda that a boy had given her.....well....good thing there was a "village" in that candy shop last night!
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